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Problem #1: Galaxy S4 won’t power on after installing a software update

Hello. Out of nowhere my phone was telling me that the apps are not working properly. Almost all of them. So I thought, let me restart it maybe the problem would go away. When I restarted my phone, the phone started updating; i think it’s a software update. When the update was almost done, the phone just turned off, and it won’t turn on again.

I already tried your reset options. But they didn’t work. I don’t think it’s a battery problem because i just recently replaced it. Not even the volume up, power button and home button method does not work. The phone doesn’t even turn on, just black screen.

P.S. I’m not sure if my Android version is 4.2 Jelly Bean. I bought the phone when it came out and I never upgraded it to another version.

Thank you. — Saimy

Solution: Hi Saimy. We know that you think the problem has nothing to do with the battery so we assume that you have left the phone plugged in to a charger for at least 30 minutes. This is to ensure that there’s enough power on the battery to allow boot troubleshooting.

If your S4 no longer boots normally and you can’t reach recovery mode (by pressing volume up, home, and power buttons), try to check if you can revive it via download mode. To boot your S4 in download mode, just follow these steps:

Turn off the phone.

Press and hold Volume Down, Home and Power buttons at the same time.

Release the buttons when you get the warning message.

Now press Volume Up button to confirm.

Now you will see the Green Android Bot with “Downloading” message.

Also known as ODIN mode, this special runtime environment allows you install ROMs or firmware to, install custom recovery to, or root a device your device manually.

If you can boot in download mode, this means that the issue is most probably a software in nature, which in most cases, can be fixed on a user level. Since your phone will still be basically useless to you in this mode, your next step would be to try to install a new ROM (either custom or stock) to get back to normal mode. You can use Google to search for specific instructions what to do next.

Problem #2: Galaxy S4 gets hot and drains battery power fast

From time to time the phone gets rather hot. This is at the top around the SIM and memory cards. The battery gets warm too and the battery drains like a frat boy with a keg.

What is the best app for figuring out what the power hog is?

Some days it runs fine all day, others it goes through 3 batteries in a day. I have a number of email and other communication type apps in there.

Before Lollipop it wasn’t an issue. — Marty

Solution: Hi Marty. Before we proceed, keep in mind that overheating can be a symptom of either a hardware or a software issue. Your first task therefore is to identify which of the two is the real cause of overheating, and eventually of the rest of the issues you mentioned. We believe that the issues you noticed on your phone (overheating and fast battery drain) are related and coming from the same source.

Check which app is a battery hog

The first thing you can do at your level is check what app is eating up battery power. Though there are a lot of third party apps that can tell you which app is the biggest power hog in your device, we suggest that you use the built in feature. You can go under Settings>Battery and tapping on apps to check which ones are draining battery faster than others. If you want to use third party apps to check the same details, start with Battery Doctor.

If you notice an app that appears to be consuming your precious battery power eventhough you seldom use it, there’s high likelihood that it may be running in the background most of the time. Try monitoring it for a few days and see if you can remove it from your phone to see the difference. Apps that run in the background can put constant pressure on the battery, especially if they require more than the regular processing tasks. The longer that the phone’s processor actively run to fulfill an app’s request to do a job, the faster it drains the battery and the higher the chance of overheating.

Install system and app updates

Overheating, as mentioned, can be caused by apps. Firmware glitch, corrupted app cache, or a faulty app can manifest in overheating sometimes so it’s good not to take chances not to download updates when available. Make sure that everything is updated to narrow down your task of isolating the real issue. Make sure to head over to the Play Store and install all available updates for your applications. The same goes through for your operating system. Make sure to install all over-the-air updates from your carrier.

Regularly clear the system cache

Wiping your S4’s cache partition should be done once every few months to ensure that the system uses up-to-date cache. If you haven’t done this before, here are the steps to do it:

Turn off the phone.

Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power buttons.

Release the Power button when the phone vibrates but continue holding on to the Volume Up and Home buttons.

When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release both the Home and Volume Up buttons.

Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’

Press the Power button to select the option.

The phone will automatically restart once cache data are wiped out.

Boot in safe mode

If you suspect that there’s a problem third party app, the best way to verify it is to restart the phone in safe mode. This special runtime environment prevents third party apps from running so if the phone works fine when in safe mode, your guess is right. To load safe mode, do these steps:

Turn off the phone.

Press and hold the Power button.

Once the Samsung Galaxy S4 logo appears on the screen (assuming the phone responds to Power key press), release the Power button.

As soon as you release the Power button, press and hold the Volume Down key.

Continue holding the Volume Down key until the phone has completed the reboot process.

If you can read ‘Safe Mode‘ at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down key. Otherwise, repeat the process until you can boot the phone to Safe Mode.

Perform a factory reset

Finally, if all these solutions won’t work, consider doing a factory reset. This is to check if the issue is with the updated firmware the phone is using. Try to use the phone for several hours to a day without installing any app so you can see the difference. Here’s how to do a factory reset:

Turn off the device.

Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, Power key.

When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.

When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.

Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’

Press Power button to select.

Press the Volume down key until ‘delete all user data’ is highlighted.

Press Power button to select and start the master reset.

When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.

Press the Power key to restart the device.

Our blog does not do hardware diagnostics and troubleshooting so need to seek help of a professional if you want to explore the topic further. Hardware troubleshooting includes using another battery to see if the issue comes from it.

Problem #3: Galaxy S4 suddenly stops working and won’t turn on

Hi there. I am using a Samsung Galaxy s4. Up until today my phone has been working brilliant. It’s 3 years old, never been dropped. I was making a phone call and was on the phone a good ten minutes until my phone went completely dead. As I’ve gone to charge my device nothing happened. I normally get a small red light to show that it’s charging. I’ve tried two different chargers in loads of different wall sockets but still nothing.

Could this be my battery or my phone? It’s never done anything like this before. Just hoping it’s fixable As I really like this device. PLEASE help. Many thanks and kind regards. — Laura

Solution: Hi Laura. The issue can be anything unless you try to isolate the possible causes. A good first step is to check the battery to see if there are any telltale signs of damage like deformities, bulging, or overheating. Using another battery, if possible, is the best thing to do though.

If you’re satisfied that the battery is fine, try to check if you can boot the phone in other modes like Safe mode or download mode (steps provided above). If it remains unresponsive and you are unable to boot it other modes, consider having the hardware checked by a local technician or Samsung.

Problem #4: Galaxy S4 intermittently powers on initially and eventually fails to turn on

Last week I was playing music and when I had press the lock screen button it froze my phone for a couple of seconds and then it turned off. I had to unplug the battery and re-plug it back in. This worked for the first time. However, the second time it happened I could not get the phone back on as easily as the first time.

Whenever I unplugged the battery and re-plugged it back in I would get the Galaxy S4 screen to come on for about 1 or 2 seconds and then it will turn off. I would have to press and hold the power button of my phone hoping that I will get lucky and it turns on. This worked for a couple of days. However, within these couple of days I was not allowed to press the lock button (power button) on my phone because then it will turn off and stay off like I had previously mentioned.

In addition, when the phone is off it will NOT charge. For some reason it does not charge when it turns off. Lucky for me I have a brother who has a Galaxy S4 too. I use his phone to charge my battery to make sure it is fully charged and that is not the issue.

Anyways, recently I had accidently pressed the lock screen button out of habit and now my phone does not allow me to turn it on like it would before. It still does the exact same thing when it is off. The only thing different now is I cannot turn it back on. — Ryan

Solution: Hi Ryan. There’s a chance that the problem may be the power button. We suggest that you do all the basic software troubleshooting mentioned above first, then to seek the help of a technician to see if there are any hardware problems. Keep in mind that after some time, the buttons may eventually deteriorate to the point that they may stop working at all. To know if this is the case, have Samsung or a qualified technician check them as part of the overall hardware check.

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If you are one of the users who encounters a problem with your device, let us know. We offer solutions for Android-related problems for free so if you have an issue with your Android device, simply fill in the short questionnaire in this link and we will try to publish our answers in the next posts. We cannot guarantee a quick response so if your issue is time sensitive, please find another way to resolve your problem.

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Disclaimer

Disclaimer: we are not affiliated with the device manufacturers or phone carriers we mention in any way, all suggestions are based on our own experience and research, you may use our advice at your own discretion.